MEET OUR TEAM

Co-Director
(518) 563-1604 ext. 109
megan@strandcenter.org

Megan Charland, Artistic Programming Director, is an interdisciplinary artist and arts administrator with 15+ years working in the community arts field. Throughout her career serving in curator, producer, photo editor, and program director roles, positively impacting people's lives through the arts has always been at the heart of her work. Charland earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Studies and a Graduate Certificate in Arts Administration from Visual Studies Workshop in association with The College at Brockport in 2013 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Professional Photographic Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2008. Charland's personal art practice primarily includes zines, cyanotypes, risography, and letterpress. megancharland.com

Co-Director
(518) 563-1604 ext. 103
jerrod@strandcenter.org

Jerrod Olsen, Director of Operations, born and raised in the Plattsburgh area and a graduate of Plattsburgh High School, finds himself in his dream role here at the Strand Center for the Arts. Jerrod has a background in retail management and customer service. His passion lies in ensuring that each event you attend is safe, fun, and seamless.

Community Engagement & Development Manager
(518) 563-1604 ext. 105
kailey@strandcenter.org

Kailey Maher is a visual artist and dreamer of impossibility. As the Strand Center for the Arts Community Engagement & Development Manager, she is very passionate about cultivating community engagement in the arts. Through the unknown, remembered gate, the arts offer the possibility hidden within the impossible.

Kailey graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh in 2022, with a focus in ceramics and sculpture. Her artwork mirrors a twin-flame magnetic polarity of mediums; stone and ceramics, pushing against and pulling within. They allow for the expression of form—an undulating essence of consciousness, a beginning and a beginning-again. Each work reflects the effects of time—shaping and reshaping, not in minutes and seconds, but a living lifetime of transformative movements of contractions and expansions.

Theatre Manager
(518) 563-1604 ext. 101
jamie@strandcenter.org

Jamie Durivage is a veteran sound engineer, musician, and multidisciplinary artist, with a long connection with the Strand Theatre. Helping set up for and performing at shows at the Strand instilled a passion for making things happen in the production world.

After being a recording artist and touring national stages for years, he shifted his focus back to art. He became a full-time tattoo artist and practiced the art for close to a decade before taking a hiatus from it to once again focus on production, where he found his way back to the Strand Center Theatre.

Re-energized with the opportunity of taking the role of Theatre Manager, Jamie hopes to expand programming diversity and inclusion at the Strand Center Theatre.

Clay Studio Manager
(518) 563-1604 ext. 110
clay@strandcenter.org

Mollie Ward is an artist and the Clay Studio Manager. She graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh in 2022, with a focus in ceramics and drawing. Her work consists of sculptural and functional ceramics and large scale oil pastel drawings. Through teaching ceramics at the Strand and in her manager position, Ward is interested in building relationships and fostering creativity in the studio and sharing her love for ceramics with the greater community. mollieward.com

Education Coordinator & Arts Educator
(518) 563-1604 ext. 111
education@strandcenter.org

Winosha Steele is an enthusiastic and vibrant artist that treasures being in the world of art. As the Education Coordinator and Art Educator at the Strand Center for the Arts, she finds inspiration in fostering a connection between compassion, art, and the local community.

Having received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh in 2021, with a focus on painting and drawing, she consciously searches for an interpersonal relation uniting her identity and her art.

Steele is an artist from the island of Antigua, admires the concept of nuances that creates a relationship linking the viewer and the artwork. Essentially, her work relates to the premise of comprehension, initiating the desire for profound conversation.

winosha.com

Youth Program Coordinator & Arts Educator
(518) 563-1604 ext. 111
youth@strandcenter.org

Sara is a self-taught artist who enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience with the youth in our community! She began exploring art at a very young age and has continued building her 'toolbox' through a lot of trial and error.

Sara works in any and all mediums in an exploration of herself and the world around her. Her personal work [yellowdeerart.com] centers around natural themes and concepts of emotional, and spiritual renewal.

Gallery & Events Coordinator
(518) 563-1604 ext. 101
gallery@strandcenter.org

Elsa is a 2020 graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh with a BFA in Painting & Drawing and a minor in Art History with experience in museum collections and exhibiting her work. She predominately identifies as a landscape painter with a specialty in Adirondack landscapes, skyscapes, oceans, and natural disasters. Growing up in the Adirondacks heavily inspired her passion and love for the landscape. In her work, Elsa uses a combination of movement, color, space, and contrast to evoke an emotional response from the viewer. To Elsa, art is a critical form of self expression and creativity that is uniquely individual and as the Gallery & Events Coordinator she is driven to expand her love of art to the community and help bring people together through shared experiences.

Communications Coordinator & Graphic Designer
(518) 563-1604 ext. 101
communications@strandcenter.org

Ally Baker is an artist who focuses on digital illustrations and graphic design. They have an Associates of Business degree from the College of Southern Nevada and a B.S. in Digital Media Production from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, where they also studied Marketing.

Ally’s digital work also includes photography as well as video and audio planning, production, and post-production editing.

Growing up in Las Vegas, art, culture, and entertainment became ingrained into who they are and how they see the world around them. To Ally, artistic expression is fundamental to life and community.

Welcome Center Team Member
(518) 563-1604 ext. 105
reception@strandcenter.org

Angelika Morris is an interdisciplinary artist and musician. She graduated with a BA in Music from The State University of New York College at Plattsburgh, with a concentration in vocal performance and composition. She leads a local alternative RnB band called GELLIE. Her artwork consists mostly of paintings and ink drawings. As a Welcome Center Team Member, she loves to be a warm welcoming face for artists new and returning.

Welcome Center Team Member
(518) 563-1604 ext. 105
frontdesk@strandcenter.org

Sommerleigh D’Elia is a multidisciplinary artist who specializes in ceramics. She graduated from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Art Therapy. For Sommerleigh, well-being and the arts are very much intertwined, and she firmly believes that creative expression is a necessary part of maintaining one's mental health. Her main sources of inspiration are the flora and fauna of the Adirondacks, which she calls home, as well as the marine life found along the coast of Eastern Maine. Through her work, she hopes to place these commonly found pieces of life and nature onto a pedestal and foster an appreciation for the remarkableness of the ordinary.